China News Service, Wuhan, February 6th (Liang Ting, Guo Xiaoying, Pan Qingfang, Zhao Chao) Reporters learned from the Hubei Provincial Department of Transportation on the 6th that as of 16:00 on the 6th, there were 9 slow-moving sections of highways in the province, and traffic control was mainly distributed in Wuhan, In Xiaogan, Jingmen, Jingzhou, Huanggang, Xianning and other regions, all expressway congestion points in the province are expected to be cleared today.
Jingzhou, Hubei Province is the hardest-hit area by this round of low-temperature rain, snow and freezing weather. The section of the Shanghai-Chongqing Expressway from Qianjiang to Maozui has steep bridge slopes, snow-covered roads and icy roads. It is difficult for large trucks to climb the slope, causing traffic jams and stranding some people. Jingzhou organized public security, armed police, emergency and other departments to reinforce the expressway, using a combination of machinery and manual methods to continue snow removal operations on bridge sections. The congested slow-moving sections were cleared and normal traffic resumed.
People in Jingzhou, Hubei Province cleared the snow and ice in the section from the north of Jingzhou Bridge on Erguang Expressway (G55) to the entrance and exit of Jingzhou Intermediate Expressway. Photo by Xiao Qi
In the early morning of the 6th, thousands of party members from 112 municipal agencies, enterprises and institutions in Jingzhou City quickly gathered to clear all the snow and ice on the nearly 10 kilometers of the section from the north of Jingzhou Bridge on Erguang Expressway (G55) to the entrance and exit of Jingzhou Intermediate Expressway. The original plan was to arrange for 3,000 people to carry out snow and ice removal operations, but more and more people spontaneously participated in the process.
Starting from the night of the 5th, Hubei ushered in another round of rain and snow, and the snowfall once again developed from south to north. Among them, there will be moderate to heavy snowfall in southern Hubei, freezing rain or ice particles in parts of southeastern Hubei, and blizzard weather in some places.
In order to quickly unblock the main arteries of expressways and facilitate ice and snow removal operations, the province decided to launch designated toll collection on 10 key sections of expressways including G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao, G42 Shanghai-Chengdu, G50 Shanghai-Chongqing and G55 Erguang at 15:00 on February 5 Stations will be diverted and released free of charge. In accordance with the principle of "nearest, parallel, and high (ordinary highways with higher technical level)", the Hubei Provincial Department of Transportation formulated and released a vehicle diversion and detour plan, and relevant local governments coordinated the snow removal of highways within their jurisdiction to ensure smooth flow and vehicle diversion guidance.
In the early morning of the 6th, at the Wuhan North Toll Plaza, staff were guiding the diverted vehicles out of the toll station in an orderly manner and settling the drivers at the vehicle diversion service station. The operating units of relevant key road sections carry out persuasion work to ensure that stranded vehicles can quickly leave the expressway, and at the same time, remotely remind vehicles to detour. Toll station and service area staff formed an emergency support team to go to the nearest congestion point. Road administration and traffic police guide the safety management and control of on-site congestion points and slow-moving vehicles to get off at the nearest stop.
According to statistics, as of 10:00 on the 6th, nearly 43,000 vehicles were released free of charge at designated toll stations on 70 key road sections in the province. (over)